OTTAWA — The Harper government is merging Canada’s foreign aid agency with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

It also plans to leverage billions in spending on military equipment into making Canada an arms exporter.

The two moves, revealed in Thursday’s federal budget, put to sleep any doubts about the government’s desire to use all means possible to advance Canadian business and commercial interests throughout the world.

The Canadian International Development Agency was created in 1968 with the intention of helping the world’s poorest people and most undeveloped countries find their feet and become self-sufficient.

There have been benefits to keeping CIDA separate from Foreign Affairs, including ensuring Canadian aid dollars were actually used to alleviate poverty in the developing world.

But that separation, combined with the long-term and complex nature of international development, meant CIDA was often an afterthought in Ottawa, subject to the whims of whatever minister was in charge.

The Harper government has made a number of changes to Canadian foreign aid over the past few years.

It has severed long-standing ties with dozens of non-governmental organizations, dropped many of the world’s poorest countries as aid recipients, and more closely aligned Canadian aid efforts with private sector activities.

But the decision to roll the Canadian International Development Agency into Foreign Affairs is arguably the most controversial change as it formally links Canada’s foreign policy, development and trade objectives.

The new Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development will continue to tackle poverty in developing countries, the government said, and there were no immediate plans to make new cuts to Canada’s approximately $5 billion aid budget.

(The government announced last year it was cutting $377 million, or about 7.5 per cent, of the aid budget as part of its efforts to slay the deficit.)

There will also remain a minister for development and humanitarian assistance, whose roles and responsibilities will be enshrined in law for the first time.

Analysts and development groups have been calling for such a legislated mandate for whoever oversees Canadian aid efforts.

But that did little to alleviate concerns Canada is losing a degree of altruism that has been an important part of its international image while contributing to global peace and security.

“Every central department in government looks out for Canada’s self-interests,” said University of Ottawa development expert Stephen Brown. “CIDA was the only one that actually looked out for poor countries.”

The government’s effort to align aid and trade efforts have faced particularly severe criticism given the prominence the government has given Canadian mining activities in developing countries, in particular.

That has prompted accusations the Conservatives are trying to advance business interests on the backs of, and at the expense of, the world’s poor.

Those concerns were reiterated on Thursday.

“We are extremely concerned that this new direction for CIDA means that development assistance will be used to advance Canada’s prosperity and security, rather than focusing solely on the needs and aspirations of the poor,” said World Vision president Dave Toycen.

“There are so many voices in the world today speaking out for the needs of business and the powerful and we’re concerned that those few voices that prioritize the poor risk being lost.”

Brown said it is in Canada’s national interest to contribute to peace and stability in the developing world through its foreign aid program, “but this government seems to think rehabilitating the image of Canadian mining companies is more important.”

Officials could not say how much the merge would cost or save the federal government, saying the move was more about aligning Canadian aid with the country’s foreign policy and trade priorities than about money.

Meanwhile, the Harper government said it is also embracing recent recommendations to use billions of dollars in planned military spending to build a strong Canadian defence industry.

Last month, a government-appointed panel headed by software executive Tom Jenkins recommended the feds take a more active role in pushing foreign companies that win military contracts to re-invest in key segments of the Canadian defence sector.

The government says that is what it plans to do.

“It is in the national interest to have a strong domestic defence-related manufacturing base that produces leading-edge equipment,” the government said in its budget plan. “Such a strategy can generate high-value exports and support high-paying jobs.”

It is also looking to make sure Canadian companies can take advantage of the $35 billion national shipbuilding plan (there have been concerns that foreign firms will benefit the most), plus re-invest in an already-existing aerospace strategy.

But exactly how it will force foreign companies to make such re-investments is unclear.

The government has had a long-standing policy of requiring foreign firms to undertake an equivalent amount of business activity in Canada as their original contracts are worth.

But there have been longstanding complaints that such requirements have done nothing to create quality domestic jobs with the billions of dollars spent on military purchases in recent years.

It’s also unclear whether funds will be built into project budgets to offset costs associated with efforts to reap commercial benefits, or whether those costs will come at the expense of military requirements, which might result in fewer or less advanced vehicles, for example.

This has been a key concern of the $35 billion national shipbuilding strategy, the budget for which was established before the Harper government decided to use it to turn shipyards in Halifax and Vancouver into world-class establishments.

lberthiaume(at)postmedia.com

Twitter:/leeberthiaume

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